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2008 CHL Import Draft report

Notes from the annual junior leagues' Import Draft

Thursday was draft time again. After the NHL Entry Draft, the Canadian Hockey League, the union of the most important American junior leagues, has had its team to choose the import players who will be likely to spend the next season playing in the Quebec Major Junior, Ontario or Western Hockey League.

While the last few seasons have seen an exodus of Czech and Slovak players, this year things went differently as the first five selections has been spent on Russian players, like never before. Also Belarusians have been took into deep consideration as they ended the draft with xyz players picked.
Nikita Filatov, who was chosen sixth overall by the Columbus Blue Jackets less than week ago, was the first name called (Sudbury Wolves, OHL), followed by Dmitri Kulikov (Drummondville Voltigeurs, QMJHL), Maksim Trunev (Portland Winter Hawks, WHL), Edgar Rybakov (Erie Otters, OHL) and Vyacheslav Voinov (Moncton Wildcats, QMJHL). Last year’s draft seen a top five made up of two Czechs, one Swiss, one Swede and one Dane. Two years ago, three Czechs, one Latvian and one Swede.

With the sixth selection the Red Deer Rebels of the WHL took Finn left defender Tommi Kivistö, a product of Helsingin Jokerit’s system. 2007 import draft had to wait up to the thirteen overall pick to see the first Finn player, big-shooted Jyri Niemi, chosen by the Saskatoon Blades, who spent the last season there and was then drafted by the New York Islanders in the last weekend.

Andrei Loktionov (picked up by Los Angeles Saturday) was drafted by OHL’s Windsor Spitfires, then it was the turn of the Czech Republic as Victoriaville Tigres of the QMJHL spent the eighth call on big sized right winger Andrej Nestrasil from HC Slavia Prague. As a comparison let’s remember that Czechs had six out of the last seven first overall picks.

Ninth and tenth picks were other first timers: Prince George Cougars selected German junior league’s top scorer Jerome Flaake, a Toronto Maple Leafs prospect, and Windsor Spitfires decided to grab blue chip prospect Richard Panik from Slovakia.

It's needed to browse down to the forteenth pick to see the first Swede name, Simon Olsson, drafted by the P.E.I. Rocket out of USHL's Chicago Steel.

Luca Cunti was taken with the seventeenth overall pick, making it the first Swiss to be chosen. Probably he wants to play Major Junior hockey after his USHL experience. Not much later sized Sergei Sheleg has became the first drafted Belarusian, at 22.

As said, three players went drafted out of non-elite nations. Despite Kazakhstan has a strong program, its players rarely play outside of the former-Soviet countries. Things can slightly change after Ottawa 67's claimed the quick winger Yakov Vorobiev with the 70th overall pick.
Italian Marco Insam was re-drafted by Niagara with the 100th pick, after being drafted and cut in the training camp with Regina Pats last season.
Mitch Morgan is likely to represent Belgium in the CHL as he has been drafted by QMJHL’s Val d’Or Foreurs. He spent the last season with in the Kolner Haie organization.

On a side note, the Bashkirov twins will come back in Canada after the season spent in Quebec two years ago. Ruslan was chosen by Peterborough, while Roman by Sarnia.

It’s still unclear which players will decide to try the jump overseas and if they eventually can pass through all the cuts.

Pick	Name	Team	League
1	Nikita Filatov	Sudbury Wolves	OHL
2	Dmitry Kulikov	Drummondville Voltigeurs	QMJHL
3	Maksim Trunev	Portland Winter Hawks	WHL
4	Edgar Rybakov	Erie Otters	OHL
5	Vyacheslav Voinov	Moncton Wildcats	QMJHL
6	Tommi Kivistö	Red Deer Rebels	WHL
7	Andrei Loktionov	Windsor Spitfires	OHL
8	Andrej Nestrasil	Victoriaville Tigres	QMJHL
9	Jerome Flaake	Prince George Cougars	WHL
10	Richard Panik	Windsor Spitfires	OHL
11	Dmitri Kostromitin	Montreal Juniors	QMJHL
12	Robin Soudek	Edmonton Oil Kings	WHL
13	Adam Sedlak	Peterborough Petes	OHL
14	Simon Olsson	P.E.I. Rocket	QMJHL
15	Tomas Kundratek	Medicine Hat Tigers	WHL
16	William Wallen	Mississauga St. Michael's Majors	OHL
17	Luca Cunti	Rimouski Oceanic	QMJHL
18	Dalibor Bortnak	Kamloops Blazers	WHL
19	Tomas Rachunek	Sault Ste. Marie Greyhounds	OHL
20	Toni Ritter	Montreal Juniors	QMJHL
21	Alexander Viklund	Chilliwack Bruins	WHL
22	Sergei Sheleg	Sudbury Wolves	OHL
23	Jan Stransky	Gatineau Olympiques	QMJHL
24	Stepan Novotny	Kelowna Rockets	WHL
25	Phillip Grubauer	Belleville Bulls	OHL
26	Dmitri Kugryshev	Quebec Remparts	QMJHL
27	Tomas Hricina	Regina Pats	WHL
28	Jakub Svoboda	Saginaw Spirit	OHL
29	Filip Janosik	Lewiston MAINEiacs	QMJHL
30	Michal Siska	Kamloops Blazers	WHL
31	Miroslav Preisinger	Sarnia Sting	OHL
32	Michal Hlinka	Chicoutimi Sagueneens	QMJHL
33	Maksim Mayorov	Brandon Wheat Kings	WHL
34	Robert Kousal	Oshawa Generals	OHL
35	Artem Demkov	Cape Breton Screaming Eagles	QMJHL
36	Oliver Jokel	Swift Current Broncos	WHL
37	Sergei Korostin	London Knights	OHL
38	Igor Golovkov	Drummondville Voltigeurs	QMJHL
39	Kirill Gotovets	Brandon Wheat Kings	WHL
40	Evgeny Grachev	Brampton Battalion	OHL
41	Tomas Petracek	Rimouski Oceanic	QMJHL
42	Stefan Warg	Seattle Thunderbirds	WHL
43	Maximilian Engelbrecht	Niagara IceDogs	OHL
44	Alexander Fomin	Moncton Wildcats	QMJHL
45	Dominik Pacovsky	Kootenay Ice	WHL
46	Evgeny Molotilov	Guelph Storm	OHL
47	Sergey Ostapchuk	Rouyn-Noranda Huskies	QMJHL
48	Igor Revenko	Prince Albert Raiders	WHL
49	Richard Jarusek	Saginaw Spirit	OHL
50	Radovan Pulis	Acadie-Bathurst Titans	QMJHL
51	Mikhail Fisenko	Vancouver Giants	WHL
52	Kirill Polozov	Barrie Colts	OHL
53	Sergei Plotnikov	Chicoutimi Sagueneens	QMJHL
54	Ales Frieb	Kootenay Ice	WHL
55	Jan Latal	Plymouth Whalers	OHL
56	Edgars Ulescenko	Calgary Hitmen	WHL
57	Simon Grønvaldt	Kitchener Rangers	OHL
58	Andrej Kudrna	Vancouver Giants	WHL
59	Lukas Matejka	Kelowna Rockets	WHL
60	Bogdan Kiselevich	Tri-City Americans	WHL
61	Erik Karlsson	Mississauga St. Michael's Majors	OHL
65	Dominik Schlumpf	Shawinigan Cataractes	QMJHL
66	Andrej Palat	Seattle Thunderbirds	WHL
68	Roberts Bukarts	Victoriaville Tigre	QMJHL
69	Marek Viedensky	Prince George Cougars	WHL
70	Yakov Vorobiev	Ottawa 67's	OHL
71	Mitch Morgan	Val-d-Or Foreurs	QMJHL
73	Ruslan Bashkirov	Peterborough Petes	OHL
75	Zdenek Okal	Medicine Hat Tigers	WHL
77	Jonathan Sääf	Val-d'Or Foreurs	QMJHL
91	Roman Bashkirov	Sarnia Sting	OHL
100	Marco Insam	Niagara IceDogs	OHL
106	Alexander Denezhkin	Oshawa Generals	OHL

Story added on 27th June 2008 at 06:15 GMT
Story submitted by: Alessandro Seren Rosso.

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